In The Headmaster We Trust
by princess-sunshine2003
Summary: Crysta is having a bad day. What could make it worse? But after puppies and kisses, things are looking up.


Crysta kicked the end of her bed, and hit her trunk, bruising her toes in the process. She hopped around on one foot for a moment. Her day was not going very well.  
  
She went down the stairs to the common room and tripped on her robes. She went into a series of perfect somersaults down the rest of the stairs and hit a chair. She sat up rubbing her head. Her day was not going very well.  
  
Sullenly, she got up and left the common room, headed for the library. She passed the doors of the Great Hall and glanced at them. As a result, she walked into the corner of the wall instead of through the passage opening. She held her stomach a few seconds and groaned. Her day was not going very well.  
  
As she raised her other foot to kick the wall, her eye was caught by something sparkling on the floor behind a panel. She picked it up and her eyes widened. A Time Turner! These were very valuable and very restricted. She knew she should run up to Dumbledore's office and return it.  
  
So that's what she did. She ran. And on the first stair, she tripped again, and this time went sprawling. The Time Turner flew from her hand, and shattered, its chain still twining around her wrist. And as the light engulfed her, she let loose a few choice words too strong for print. Her day was not going very well. No, you know what, her day SUCKED!  
  
And when the light cleared, she was still lying on the stairs, her wrist trapped by the Time Turner's chain. However, the actual hourglass was gone. She sat up gingerly. Her toes ached, her stomach was bruised and her head stung. She picked up the rest of the chain and pulled it off her arm. She still had to take the chain up to Dumbledore's office.  
  
Noise was coming towards her from all directions. She heard the footsteps of students, and their voices. She climbed the stairs more carefully this time.  
  
And walked straight into a boy her own age that she'd never seen before. He laughed. "Going the wrong way, beautiful," he said, taking her arm. "Lunch is this way." She looked at him. Lord, but he was familiar.  
  
"I'm going to see the Headmaster," she replied, holding up the chain as evidence. "I found this, and I want to give it back."  
  
"Your accent's funny," he said, acting as if he hadn't heard her words. "Almost American."  
  
"I lived there a lot of my life. My father's the English ambassador to the United States," she replied. She tried to pry herself free of his hands, but was having limited success. Now, mind you, normally, Crysta would have been more than happy to let this cute boy tow her along to lunch, but she just wanted to get rid of this thing before it made her day any worse.  
  
He pulled her along down the stairs. His friend noticed her struggles. "Come on, Sirius, let her go." Crysta froze.  
  
"Siri-Sirius Black!?" she exclaimed.  
  
"How many other Sirius's do you know, sweetheart?" he asked, smiling.  
  
"Oh, Merlin's beard. I'm fried." She yanked out of his hold and nodded. "Sorry." Then she turned and ran.  
  
And tripped all over her own feet again, flying into the stairs face-first. She sat up and glared around her at snickering students. "This day SUCKS!" she screamed. She glared up at the ceiling. "WHY ME!?!? WHY THE HELL DID IT HAVE TO BE ME!?" She climbed to her feet, and turned again to climb up the stairs. This time she grabbed hold of the banister for safety. She managed the climb without further mishap and made her way along the halls to the Headmaster's office. And swore again, realizing that she didn't know the password in this time.  
  
"The password's Fizzing Whizbee, in case you were interested," piped up a voice. The same voice that had bade Sirius release her moments ago. She turned. "I'm James. James Potter."  
  
"Crysta Marx."  
  
"Ravenclaw, I see."  
  
"And you're Gryffindor."  
  
"That'd be me."  
  
She smiled. "I have to see Dumbledore."  
  
"Well, Dumbledore's office is down the Transfiguration hall," James said, puzzled. "I thought you said you had to see the Headmaster."  
  
"I do, but then I have to see Dumbledore."  
  
"See me about what, my dear?" asked a voice she knew well.  
  
"Oh, Professor! It was horrible! My whole day, and then this, and I'm lost, and I don't know what to do and the stupid thing disappeared and all that was left was this chain! And I didn't mean to, sir, honest!"  
  
"Calm down, dear. Now, I'm sure Mr. Potter and Mr. Black will excuse us." He placed an arm around her shoulders and led her off. "Now, start from the beginning. I don't recognize you."  
  
"I'm Crysta Marx, sir. And, Professor, I'm not from here!"  
  
"I can tell that much from your accent Miss Marx."  
  
"No, I mean I'm not from this time! I'm from about twenty years in the future! You're Headmaster, and... and James' son goes here, with his friends!"  
  
"Stop. Don't tell me any more about it. Thankfully, I already knew about the Headmaster job. Armando is retiring at the end of this year. But...James having a son! Now that is a pleasant idea. How did you come to arrive here, Miss Marx?"  
  
"This Time Turner, sir. I was having a very bad day, and I'm the clumsiest sort. I was walking down to visit my best friend in the Hufflepuff common room. She gave me the password, you see. And I saw something glittering in the torchlight of the hallway. So I picked it up when I saw it was a Time Turner. I was on my way to return it to you when I tripped again and fell on the stairs. It shattered all over the floor, and... well, I ended up here, now."  
  
"I see."  
  
It was all he said for a few moments as they finished walking. "Well," he said at last, as they entered his office. "I do believe you will have to stay here until a new Time Turner is found, and you can go home."  
  
"But!"  
  
"Nonsense. You are already a member of this school in your own time. There is no reason you couldn't be in this time as well. But where to put you, now that is a problem. You see, the Ravenclaw girls' dormitories are already above capacity. There are two vacancies in Gryffindor, and one in Slytherin. You'll have to acquire new robes, but..." He pulled out his wand and waved it. The crest over her heart warped and morphed into a red and gold Gryffindor lion. Crysta started. "Now, you cannot attend classes with the other students."  
  
"But!"  
  
"Now, I think that takes care of everything. Go eat lunch with your new Housemates." He gave her a little push out the door and she walked, too dazzled to respond. She went down the stairs and into the Great Hall. Talking around the doors ceased as she entered and made her way, out of habit, to the Ravenclaw table. Luckily, she remembered just a moment before she sat down that she was now a Gryffindor. She kept walking and sat down at their table, a little uneasily.  
  
"Hey, Crysta, I thought you said you were Ravenclaw!" James called from down the table. She looked up and offered a smile.  
  
"I didn't say it, James, you did!" They beckoned her over and she got up and went, seeing no harm in it. She sat between James and Sirius.  
  
"Then how come I never see you in class?"  
  
"Because I'm invisible?" she replied, phrasing it like a question. The two boys stared at her, then laughed.  
  
"No, really. Why?"  
  
"I guess you never saw me because you never noticed me."  
  
"Hard not to," Sirius replied impishly.  
  
"I'm a wallflower, what can I say?" she shot back, dishing mashed potatoes onto her plate and feeling the glance they traded over her head. They were surprised- no one got the best of the Marauders anymore.  
  
"Uh-huh. You're a wallflower, and I'm a... a pumpkin!" Sirius replied. Crysta grinned sideways at him and James felt his heart jump around in his chest. She was dead sexy when she smiled like that!  
  
"I had thought you were looking a little chubby and, well, orange. I didn't want to bring it up," she retorted, stifling a snicker. Sirius grinned while James guffawed. Crysta looked around for the other two members of Harry Potter's father's gang of pranksters. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were sitting across the table and three down, discussing something with two girls.  
  
She smiled and put a forkful of potatoes in her mouth. Sirius mockingly pinched his arm. "You know, I was wondering where this fat had come from."  
  
"Oh, shut up, you!" she said, waving her fork at him. He snickered and sat, picking up his fork to dig into his pumpkin pie.  
  
"Oh. Now I can't eat this. I'm no cannibal." Crysta smiled.  
  
"You're no cannibal, huh? James, how many times has Siri eaten pumpkin pie in his life?"  
  
"Quite a few."  
  
"Siri, huh?" Sirius asked. "I'm Siri now?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
James was thinking of a clever way of either moving closer to her or brushing her hand with his. He wasn't coming up with much.  
  
And then she sat down, none too gracefully, knocking into him and sending him sprawling into Crysta's lap. She sat up straight and looked down at him. He was afraid she was angry.  
  
Then she grinned at him. "Comfortable?"  
  
"Very," he replied.  
  
"Come on, James, old boy. Let me have a turn. You can't have all the pretty girls, you know." Crysta giggled as Sirius, not to be left out, put his head in her lap and stretched out on the bench. Crysta leaned forward.  
  
"I'm not to be blamed if the two of you play napkin and get food dripped on your faces," she said, hiding her humiliation at having her friend's father's and godfather's heads in her lap. So much for the messing up of the past!  
  
People were turning to look. Sirius looked up at her from his vantage in her lap. "So, if you're a wallflower, you must be drunk."  
  
"I wish!" she laughed. "No, I've never been drunk in my life."  
  
"So what about the sudden change from the invisible girl to Miss Bachelorette of the Month?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know. Guess it took the attention of two men such as yourselves to bring me to my senses." She continued to eat slowly, enjoying herself immensely and praying inwardly that it was a dream, or if it wasn't, that Dumbledore would somehow find her a Time Turner SOON! "And to think, this started out as the worst day of my life."  
  
"Yeah, but then James and I came into your field of vision, and as you feasted your eyes on me- I mean, us- you decided that no day could be a bad one when we were there to look at." Sirius looked totally serious, but Crysta could hear the playfulness in his words.  
  
"Yes. Well, you were partly wrong. It was James I was feasting my eyes on," she said, eyes sparkling with mirth. Sirius pouted. Crysta caught her breath and hid it as a cough. Why wasn't anyone in her own time so cute!? No fair. "Don't look at me like that, Siri," she said. He deepened his pout until he looked like an emotionally wounded puppy. She grinned. "Oh, stop it! You look like a puppy when you do that!"  
  
"Girls like puppies. They kiss puppies. Come on, give us a kiss!" He dropped his fake pout and smile winningly up at her.  
  
"You'd better not be serious. I'm eating. You'll get mashed potato flavored kisses.  
  
"We don't mind!" chorused James and Sirius. Crysta smiled. Her day was much better now.  
  
"I do. No, you boys haven't earned kisses yet." Sirius climbed out of her lap and got down on his knees. James copied his gesture.  
  
"What do we have to do to earn kisses from you, beautiful creature?"  
  
"For one, never call me a creature again."  
  
"Done, princess of ageless beauty."  
  
"For two, get up. You're attracting attention."  
  
"Done." Both climbed to their feet and sat next to her. "Next?"  
  
"For three... I don't know what for three, yet. Give me a minute." She sat and took occasional sips of her milk. She tilted her head and sharp pains shot through her neck and back. She reached up a hand to massage it right again.  
  
Sirius beat her to it. He massaged like a pro, and she would have bet a lot of galleons she didn't have that he'd practiced on his many girlfriends. But damn, he was good at it. She stifled the first moan, but couldn't stop the second.  
  
"So, did I earn my first kiss?" he asked, working gently on her neck.  
  
"Hmm? You want more than one?" Somehow, she wasn't surprised.  
  
"Of course he does." James was grinning at his best friend. He shook his head. He was just kidding about the kisses. He wanted Lily, and he always would. She was smiling at him right now, and he felt his heart go nuts.  
  
"So, have I earned my first kiss?"  
  
"Maybe." She got up, pulling away from his hands.  
  
"Where are you going?" he pouted.  
  
"To the library." He grinned and stood.  
  
"Me too." She shrugged and trundled out of the Great Hall, Sirius walking with her. "So, how about that kiss?" She shook her head.  
  
"Is that all you think about?"  
  
"Maybe," he shot back, tossing her own word back at her.  
  
"Am I wearing a sign that says, 'Kiss me, Sirius,' on it?"  
  
"You could be."  
  
"You are so rotten," she said.  
  
"I know. But I'm good, and you know it."  
  
"I want another massage," she said.  
  
"It'll cost you extra, pretty wallflower."  
  
"How much?"  
  
"First massage costs one kiss. Second costs... five."  
  
"FIVE!?! I might as well snog you for five minutes!" she said.  
  
"That's acceptable," he replied.  
  
Oh, no. This will so majorly screw up the past! She thought. Her traitor lips replied, "Deal."  
  
And he leaned in for his first kiss.  
  
************************************************************  
  
Two minutes later, they were broken apart by the sound of approaching voices. Lunch was obviously over. They leapt apart and continued to walk to the library.  
  
"That counted as two," she said.  
  
"No way! That was only one!"  
  
"Then you want me to sit in the library for ten minutes kissing you?" she asked. "Because if that counted as one, then a standard kiss is two minutes long! I say it counted as two."  
  
"Fine. I'll have to make your massage worth it. Come on up to the boys dormitory tonight with a towel and I'll give you a real massage," he said in a voice that tried to be seductive but only succeeded in making her laugh.  
  
"I'll stick with my shoulder massage, thanks ever so," she replied.  
  
Dumbledore chose that moment to pop out of the woodwork. "Miss Marx. I found you. I have your... solution, in my office, if you'll follow me?" She waved to Sirius as she hurried after Dumbledore. A little ways down the hall, he stopped. "You do know I'll have to cast a memory charm on him?"  
  
"Yes, sir. I know."  
  
"Obliviate!" he murmured. Sirius' face went slack, then he straightened and walked off down the hall. Then Crysta followed Dumbledore to his office. On the desk sat a Time Turner. "Now, when you get back to your own time, give this to me directly. Straightaway, do you understand!?"  
  
"Yes, sir. Directly."  
  
"All right. Good luck, Miss Marx."  
  
"Crysta, Professor. Call me Crysta," she said as she turned the Turner, leaping forward in time.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
She arrived in a flash of light to find Professor McGonagall (whose office it currently was) kissing the glass on an autographed picture of Gilderoy Lockhart, the DADA professor from Crysta's second year. McGonagall flushed and began to speak when she saw what Crysta was wearing.  
  
"Take that to Professor Dumbledore, Miss Marx!" Crysta bowed and ran from the room, pulling her robes up out of the way of her feet this time. She made it, breathless, to Dumbledore's office and spoke the password. The staircase wound up and she stepped on. At the top, there was a door. She opened it and went in.  
  
Then she stopped dead.  
  
Sirius Black was sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk, talking earnestly. Dumbledore saw her over his shoulder and beckoned her forward, his eyes twinkling. Head down with her hair to hide her face, she walked forward.  
  
"Professor. You told me to give this to you directly. Straightaway."  
  
"So I did. Bring it here, please." She did. "Crysta, I dare say you know Sirius Black?" She chanced a look up. Her eyes met his and they merged. Her ears hummed.  
  
"Um, yes. I-I have, Professor." Sirius tilted his head a bit. Crysta raised her head, remembering the memory charm.  
  
"I remember you," he said slowly. "I kissed you, and I never saw you again after you followed him to his office for something." She glanced at Dumbledore. He smiled.  
  
"Um, yes. That's me."  
  
"You'll hate me for this, but you are the reason I'm a single man with a godson and no blood son." Crysta blushed and looked down again.  
  
"You may go Crysta. It will be time for dinner soon." She turned and fell to her knees.  
  
"Damn robes," she muttered. And she tripped going down the stairs, executing more flawless gymnastics that ended when she rolled straight into a wall. Her day was, once again, not going very well.  
  
She got to her room without further mishaps. And she sank onto her bed gratefully.  
  
"I still owe you that massage. And you still owe me a kiss," he said in a soft voice. She opened her eyes but didn't move.  
  
"Uh-huh. How did you get in here?"  
  
"Window was open."  
  
"I see. And how old are you?"  
  
"Old enough to know what I want. Young enough for you."  
  
"Harry would not approve."  
  
"Are you so sure?"  
  
"And just how much is this massage going to cost me?" she asked, laughter making her eyes sparkle.  
  
"Marriage. Once you graduate, of course."  
  
"Hmm... it's a pretty steep price for one massage..."  
  
"Who said anything about one? I'm talking a lifetime of massages! And kisses. Of course, some of the things are going to cost you a lot. Maybe a child, or two."  
  
"And at eighteen, I'm old enough to be thinking about this?"  
  
"Yup. I was thinking about it then. I'm thinking of it now, at thirty- something. However the hell old I am now."  
  
"So, a lifetime of massages, and all I have to do is marry you?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"What the hell!"  
  
Suddenly, her day wasn't so bad after all. 


End file.
